Physics at Surfaces

Physics at Surfaces is a unique graduate-level introduction to the physics and chemical physics of solid surfaces, and atoms and molecules that interact with solid surfaces. A subject of keen scientific inquiry since the last century, surface physics emerged as an independent discipline only in the late 1960s as a result of the development of ultra-high vacuum technology and high speed digital computers. With these tools, reliable experimental measurements and theoretical calculations could at last be compared. Progress in the last decade has been truly striking. This volume provides a synthesis of the entire field of surface physics from the perspective of a modern condensed matter physicist with a healthy interest in chemical physics. The exposition intertwines experiment and theory whenever possible, although there is little detailed discussion of technique. This much-needed text will be invaluable to graduate students and researchers in condensed matter physics, physical chemistry and materials science working in, or taking graduate courses in, surface science.

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Page 1 - I then went to the windward side, where they began to form ; and there the oil, though not more than a tea-spoonful, produced an instant calm over a space several yards square, which spread amazingly, and extended itself gradually till it reached the lee-side, making all that quarter of the pond, perhaps half an acre, as smooth as a looking-glass.

Page 1 - At length being at Clapham, where there is, on the common, a large pond, which I observed one day to be very rough with the wind, I fetched out a cruet of oil, and dropped a little of it on the water. I saw it spread itself with surprising swiftness upon the surface ; but the effect of smoothing the waves was not produced ; for I had applied it first on the leeward side of the pond, where the waves were largest, and the wind drove my oil back upon the shore. I then went to the windward side where...

Page 3 - A device called the transistor, which has several applications in radio where a vacuum tube ordinarily is employed, was demonstrated for the first time yesterday at Bell Telephone Laboratories, 463 West Street, where it was invented.